The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 has been treated to a host of updates in the last six months, and it’s set to receive another raft of new features.
Far from abandoning the smartwatch in favour of the new Galaxy Watch 3, Samsung seems committed to keeping its older, cheaper and sportier smartwatch a compelling purchase.
The update is landing in South Korea first, but should be arriving globally any time.
Automatic exercise detection will now kick in more quickly, making it even more useful for tracking workouts. This will apply to running and elliptical workouts.
Sleep tracking has been given a boost, with more data for users to examine after they wake. However, exactly what this data will be isn’t quite clear.
A hand-washing timer has been added so users can check they’re getting their full 30 seconds of virus-killing hygiene.
And Samsung Health has been updated to let users take part in fitness challenges against friends and family.
Finally, there’s been a find my smartwatch feature added via SmartThings.
It’s a big update of features, and great to see the Galaxy Watch Active 2 is still being supported. At the end of last month the company added a load of features from the Galaxy Watch 3 including ECG and blood pressure detection.
With all these features, and the Galaxy Watch Active 2 hitting a sub- price tag and regularly treated to decent deals – it’s still one of the most recommendable devices out there for Android users.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.